When comparing Messenger vs Viber, the Slant community recommends Viber for most people. In the question“What are the best messaging apps for Android?”Viber is ranked 8th while Messenger is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Viber is:

Viber has native apps for both Windows and Mac that allow you to send and receive messages from your desktop. You can also use the desktop to make and receive calls. Synchronizes between all devices you are using Viber on. Allows transferring calls between devices.

Pro

Great UI

Pro

Viber has native apps for both Windows and Mac that allow you to send and receive messages from your desktop. You can also use the desktop to make and receive calls. Synchronizes between all devices you are using Viber on. Allows transferring calls between devices.

Pro

Supports voice calls

Viber has really well implemented voice tech. It has comparable quality to Skype and you can even tranfer calls from your phone to your desktop seamlessly.

Pro

Completely free

Viber uses data connection and the app is free.

Pro

Clean interface

The interface is simple, functional and intuitive.

Pro

See who of your contacts is using Viber quickly

Viber is tied to your phone number so it can quickly see who else in your contacts list is using the application.

Pro

Combines cellular and data messaging

This has an advantage in that if you text someone who uses Viber it will be free, if not it will just revert to SMS. This means you can replace your standard messaging app with Viber as well.

Pro

Public chats

It's possible to be a fly on the wall on other group or one-to-one chats that have been opened up to the public. These public chats are often promotional chats with celebrities.

Pro

Same protocol as used in Signal

Viber's protocol uses the same concepts of the "double ratchet" protocol used in Open Whisper Systems Signal application.

Pro

Keys only on device

Starting with Viber 6.0 the encryption keys are stored only on the clients themselves, not even Viber itself has access to them.

Pro

No need to create an account or add contacts

One of the best things about Viber is how it handles setup and sending messages. Viber uses your existing number as your ID, so you don't need to create a separate Viber account.

Pro

Android Wear support

Viber includes Android Wear support on Android 4.3 or higher and Viber 5.3 or higher.

Pro

Supports 200 person group chat

Viber allows creating groups of up to 200 people on the Android version of Viber. It also has a cool "smart notifications" feature to prevent being overwhelmed with notifications if a lot of people are active in a chat group.

Pro

Insight and well documented encryption

Viber has made a documentation available, explaining in great details their encryption system and giving good insight on how it works.

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Cons

Con

Lack of privacy

Messenger is owned by Facebook. Based on their privacy policy, this means that any information you provide (including messages sent) are used by Facebook to profile you and sell access to your data to advertisers.

Con

Lack of end-to-end encryption

Secret (end-to-end encrypted) chats are only supported in one-to-one messages, and are not enabled by default, and the encryption has not been verified independently.

Con

No video messages

Currently there is no way to send video messages using Messenger.

Con

Doesn't sync well

Sync awfully between Phone and PC clients.

Con

No web client

You cannot login from the web to send and receive messages.

Con

The company evades U. S. tax

The company uses the common practice of tax haven addresses in order to avoid paying US taxes despite being registered in Delaware.

Con

Constantly on

Need apps like Greenify to stop it from being constantly on and active, even if you don't use it.

Con

Constant reminders of messages

If you don't check your messages (say your in a group chat and simply don't check all of them), it will flood your notifications.

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